Saturday, March 23, 2013

The One Thing Indians And Pakistanis Both Complain About But Equally Love And Live By, Corruption

The Wall Street Journal has a great article, One Cheer for Corruption in India by an Indian writer about how the rich and corrupt ruling classes got richer by hook or by crook, while blaming the lower class Hindus (sadly Hindus have classes of people considered from the highest to the lowest, "untouchables") and Muslims, who make up the poor.

That was something I had seen in my own visit to New Delhi,India many years ago. I commented on how Pakistan cannot just compete with India, but do even "better" in the unfortunate field of growing corruption.

"What an interesting and thought-provoking piece. I am an American, here for 25 years, but came from Pakistan, an almost completely Muslim country.

When Pakistanis have time to spare from making conspiracy theories, we have a holier than thou posture embedded into the national genome. A plunder today because tomorrow never comes mentality is in the blood of the rich elite -- and of bureaucrats in positions to take bribes to help those rich get richer. I can sadly confirm that Corruption is institutionalized in both India and Pakistan.

We can blame the way the British set up these societies to rot from the inside, by empowering government servants with authority but poor salaries and leaving wealth in the hands of a few who could only keep it or grow it by avoiding the regulations those bureaucrats had to be paid off to look the other way on. (Yes, I know, run on sentence, but that is the intricate long flow of the full circle of corruption in these countries).

But, blame as we may the British, after six decades of independence, the decision and structure to remain corrupt lies with the people of both these nations, and sadly the consensus remains to continue those practices,